Marion Talou, artist designer, presents an exhibition on Lozère cheese molds

Marion Talou met en lumière les formes des fromages de Lozère à travers des ateliers. DR – Laurine Habert

L’artiste est en résidence à Monts-de-Randon pour un projet artistique autour du fromage de Lozère et de ses formes, en collaboration avec l’école Graines de plume. Une exposition des travaux est proposée du 28 au 30 juin 2024.

"I’would like to taste cheese like you eat ice cream", laughs Marion Talou, originally from Toulouse, to summarize his work. Behind this teasing phrase, Marion Talou is a true researcher into new forms of cheese, through work on molds. Designer artist in residence in Monts-de-Randon, she has been working on this project for several months, with students from the Graines de plume primary school, supported by the Ateliers Medicis. An exhibition will be offered from June 28, 2024, in the association hall in Monts-de-Randon.

An artistic project with students from Lozère

"This project, around cheese, is very anchored in the territories", comments Marion Talou. A way of honoring the Lozère lands and local dairy specificities. It was here and nowhere else that she decided to continue her research, a project initially planned as part of her designer diploma defense, a few years ago: "Food concerns everyone. I met cheese makers and realized that cheese could be considered a design object. It is possible to mold it, to control its shape. It is a question of rethinking established things, such as its forms."

She worked with the Parisian dairy La Chapelle before being exhibited during the Design Parade festival at the Villa Noailles in Hyères, in 2022, “with cow's milk cheese”. After graduation, eshe perseveres on the idea of ​​forms: “It's a sprawling project, I have lots of leads.” She applies to the Ateliers Médicis, as part of the Créations en cours residencies, the aim of which is to strengthen the artistic presence among CM1, CM2 and 6th grade students in the departments.

Create shapes that will become cheese molds. DR – Laurine Habert

She opts for Lozère : "It’is a cycle of twenty workshops, with a class from the primary school of’ nbsp;Monts-de-Randon. The first phase consisted of exploring the creation of forms through drawing. We produced lots of abstract figures, selected a few to work on in volume. We approached two cheese factories in Monts-de-Randon to produce (Gaec Pic for cow's milk and Gaec Tardieu for goat's milk ). The curd has been poured into our molds and refining is in progress.& ;quot; Today, the few remaining workshops will be devoted to preparing for the exhibition at the end of June.

Ecological molds

Pyramid shapes, points, balls, subtle roundness, cheese according to Marion Talou is freeing itself from its historical forms. "We should see if the shape influences the taste, I don't have enough perspective", she specifies. And defends herself against any industrial development: “It would rather be tailor-made for cheesemakers.” Ethical, the young woman also works on the materiality of the molds: more ecological, in wicker, wood, ceramic, rather than the traditional plastic: “I have a relatively anarchist artistic approach, she jokes. I like to challenge the established order.” Without making a big deal out of it.

Exhibition “Formage, fromage”, from June 28 to 30, 2024 at the Salle des Associations in Rieutort-de-Randon from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. I subscribe to read the rest